Anabel Semerdzhieva - Permanent Court of Arbitration (2023-2024)
Anabel Semerdzhieva (BCL/JD’21) is the 2023-2024 McGill Fellow at the International Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where she acts as Assistant Legal Counsel. Prior to graduating from the BCL/JD Program at McGill University, she obtained a Joint Honours degree in Political Science and International Development Studies from McGill, graduating First Class.
Anabel was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 2022. Before joining the Permanent Court of Arbitration, she practiced law as a litigation associate at the law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, LLP.
During her legal studies, Anabel was a Senior and Associate Editor at the McGill Law Journal and the McGill Journal of International Law. She also worked at the Mile End Legal Clinic and the Canadian Human Rights Commission, where she provided legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals and self-represented litigants.
Passionate about global cooperation and legal pluralism, Anabel served as delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York, and in the summer of 2019, she completed an internship at the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.
Simon Rollat - Permanent Court of Arbitration (2022-2023)
Simon Rollat (BCL/JD’22) is the 2022-2023 McGill Fellow at the International Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where he acts as Assistant Legal Counsel. He completed his BCL and JD with a minor in Islamic and Middle East Studies.
Prior to undertaking this endeavour, Simon completed a summer as a Law Student at Blake, Cassels & Graydon in Montréal. During his studies, he worked as a Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant for Professor Andrea Bjorklund (McGill) on topics concerning International Trade Law, International Investment Disputes and Commercial Arbitration Law. He was also an Assistant Expert on the Québec region for Professor Brian McGarry’s (Leiden) Tracing Inherent Powers research project and an Assistant to the Hon. Louise Otis (McGill, OECD, UN).
Simon also volunteered at the Association for the Rights of Household and Farm Workers and at the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, where he worked on domestic and international human rights issues, including slavery. He has published a few pieces on Jus Mundi, Human Rights Pulse and the McGill International Business and Trade Law Journal.
